We can simply no longer afford the Tories with their £24bn tax rise - Ian Murray

Yesterday, the government chose to increase tax on working people.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has confirmed more than £24billion worth of tax rises this year alone, writes Ian Murray. (Photo by Justin Tallis - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

This is one of fifteen tax rises from Rishi Sunak and just the latest in a growing list of ripped up pledges from the Conservative’s 2019 manifesto.

Instead of delivering security to millions of hard-pressed families as promised, yesterday the Chancellor’s decision to increase taxation to the highest rate in 70 years, took effect.

He has left households and businesses to fend for themselves in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, as we’re set to see the biggest drop to incomes on record.

As Covid-19 restrictions go, this spring should be a time for celebration, however this April we will see the number of households facing ‘fuel stress’ treble to 6.3 million, according to the Resolution Foundation.

READ MORE: Why the Tories are now the high tax party – Ian Murray MP

Just speaking to my own constituents on the doorstep and at advice sessions, families are telling me they feel more insecure than ever.

Britain is the only country in the G7 to put taxes up during the cost-of-living crisis, with the Chancellor confirming £24 billion in tax rises this year alone.

And analysis by the Office for Budget Responsibility, shows people face the biggest drop in living standards since records began in the 1950s.

For every £6 the Chancellor has taken in tax since becoming Chancellor, he’s giving back just £1.

The Prime Minister would like us to believe this is to solve his own self-made problems in public services.

However, due to a decade of austerity, we now know that £11.8 billion was lost through Covid fraud and this is how the government plans get it back.

Why does he think it’s fair that the public pay for Rishi Sunak’s mistakes?

Small business owners too, have been pleading with the government to rethink this hike, with hospitality outlets referencing that the cost of ingredients have increased by 50%.

After nearly two years of lockdowns and restrictions, these businesses can ill afford a rise in their overheads.

They’re being held back by a Conservative Government that isn’t on their side. The Tories are no longer the party of low taxation, nor the party of business.

Labour, last week unveiled new research that shows that families are £2,620 worse off under the Tories – even after the measures announced in the Chancellor’s Spring Statement.

We have consistently opposed the unfair National Insurance rise, which hits working people and businesses at the worst possible time.

Our Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has pledged that Labour would introduce a fairer tax system and get the economy firing on all cylinders to break Britain out of the Tory low growth, high tax cycle.

We are committed to tackling the Tory cost of living crisis by cutting energy bills by up to £600, funded by a one-off windfall tax on the excess profits of the oil and gas producers.

This will be of enormous help to working people. It will also help small firms, who are struggling to manage rising prices and spiralling energy bills.

We are on the side of people and industry, whilst Boris Johnson’s government continues to bleed them dry.

The Conservatives have broken yet another promise and it’s working people that are paying the price.

We can no longer trust nor afford the Tories but it’s only Labour that can replace them.

-Ian Murray is the Labour MP for Edinburgh South